Wow! ASR Jury Finds “For J&J”

In short

The first two ASR cases to reach conclusions found against J&J to the tune of nearly $20M. Who would have bet against that trend continuing. Yet the Chicago case of Carol Strum and her tale of woes following failure of her ASR implant, must have cheered the company no end as the jury found in its favour.

Background

We recently reported on Kransky vs J&J DePuy in what we expected might be a pivotal or landmark case. Ageing and suffering numerous concomitant conditions that the company argued had nothing to do with it, Mr Kransky was awarded a total of $8.3M, although the company is saying it will appeal the award.

Now an Illinois jury has come to a somewhat different conclusion in the case of nurse Carol Strum, 54, who was also claiming punitive damages, due to the allegedly fraudulent or malicious nature of DePuy’s actions. She was reportedly hoping for a ruling to the tune of $179M. She claimed that Johnson & Johnson failed to warn of the risks associated with the device’s defective design, with her husband testifying that her 2009 DePuy ASR implantation and 2011 revision surgery have left her unable to participate in the activities she once enjoyed.

Quite what swayed it we don’t know, but the bottom line is that the Illinois jury declined to award damages. DePuy say they acted in a manner that was appropriate and responsible, trying to help the plaintiff by for example covering costs of her medical treatment once problems appeared.

Sadly for DePuy it ain’t over. The plaintiff has the right to appeal this ruling…. and there are still 10,000 other plaintiffs in the queue.